Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.7 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it United States

Let ABC\triangle ABC be a triangle. A circle passing through AA and BB intersects segments ACAC and BCBC at DD and EE, respectively. Rays BABA and EDED intersect at FF while lines BDBD and CFCF intersect at MM. Prove that MF=MCMF = MC if and only if MBMD=MC2MB \cdot MD = MC^2.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Extend segment DMDM through MM to GG such that FGCDFG \parallel CD.
Figure 1
Then MF=MCMF = MC if and only if quadrilateral CDFGCDFG is a parallelogram, or, FDCGFD \parallel CG. Hence MC=MFMC = MF if and only if GCD=FDA\angle GCD = \angle FDA, that is, FDA+CGF=180\angle FDA + \angle CGF = 180^\circ.

Because quadrilateral ABEDABED is cyclic, FDA=ABE\angle FDA = \angle ABE. It follows that MC=MFMC = MF if and only if
180=FDA+CGF=ABE+CGF, 180^\circ = \angle FDA + \angle CGF = \angle ABE + \angle CGF,
that is, quadrilateral CBFGCBFG is cyclic, which is equivalent to
CBM=CBG=CFG=DCF=DCM. \angle CBM = \angle CBG = \angle CFG = \angle DCF = \angle DCM.
Because DMC=CMB\angle DMC = \angle CMB, CBM=DCM\angle CBM = \angle DCM if and only if triangles BCMBCM and CDMCDM are similar, that is
CMBM=DMCM, \frac{CM}{BM} = \frac{DM}{CM},
or MBMD=MC2MB \cdot MD = MC^2.

Solution 2

Figure 2
We first assume that MBMD=MC2MB \cdot MD = MC^2. Because MCMD=MBMC\frac{MC}{MD} = \frac{MB}{MC} and CMD=BMC\angle CMD = \angle BMC, triangles CMDCMD and BMCBMC are similar. Consequently, MCD=MBC\angle MCD = \angle MBC. Because quadrilateral ABEDABED is cyclic, DAE=DBE\angle DAE = \angle DBE. Hence
FCA=MCD=MBC=DBE=DAE=CAE, \angle FCA = \angle MCD = \angle MBC = \angle DBE = \angle DAE = \angle CAE,
implying that AECFAE \parallel CF, and so AEF=CFE\angle AEF = \angle CFE. Because quadrilateral ABEDABED is cyclic, ABD=AED\angle ABD = \angle AED. Hence
FBM=ABD=AED=AEF=CFE=MFD. \angle FBM = \angle ABD = \angle AED = \angle AEF = \angle CFE = \angle MFD.
Because FBM=DFM\angle FBM = \angle DFM and FMB=DMF\angle FMB = \angle DMF, triangles BFMBFM and FDMFDM are similar. Consequently, FMDM=BMFM\frac{FM}{DM} = \frac{BM}{FM}, or FM2=BMDM=CM2FM^2 = BM \cdot DM = CM^2. Therefore MC2=MBMDMC^2 = MB \cdot MD implies MC=MFMC = MF.

Now we assume that MC=MFMC = MF. Applying Ceva's Theorem to triangle BCFBCF and cevians BM,CA,FEBM, CA, FE gives
BAAFFMMCCEEB=1, \frac{BA}{AF} \cdot \frac{FM}{MC} \cdot \frac{CE}{EB} = 1,
implying that BAAF=BEEC\frac{BA}{AF} = \frac{BE}{EC}, so AECFAE \parallel CF. Thus, DCM=DAE\angle DCM = \angle DAE. Because quadrilateral ABEDABED is cyclic, DAE=DBE\angle DAE = \angle DBE. Hence
DCM=DAE=DBE=CBM. \angle DCM = \angle DAE = \angle DBE = \angle CBM.
Because CBM=DCM\angle CBM = \angle DCM and CMB=DMC\angle CMB = \angle DMC, triangles BCMBCM and CDMCDM are similar. Consequently, CMDM=BMCM\frac{CM}{DM} = \frac{BM}{CM}, or CM2=BMDMCM^2 = BM \cdot DM.

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